News: U.S. Federal Judge and Epic Games Challenge Whether Apple is Compliant with The Order to Allow Payment Steering -
The hearing for an evidentiary hearing in the Epic Games v. Apple trial is examining whether Apple is in fact complying with the U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers' order to allow app developers to "steer" users to third-party payment options beyond the App Store's native App Store.
The hearing on Apple's subsequent compliance began on Wednesday, May 8. AP is reporting that judge Gonzalez Rogers " questioned whether Apple had set the barrage of exasperating barriers to hinder from using other payment methods in iPhone apps" despite the court order.
Hearing Focused on Whether Apple Policy Is Still Anti-Steering
The AP report further states that Judge Gonzalez Rogers' tone suggested Apple's actions have been focused on protecting Apple's own profits, rather than complying with the intent of her order to allow the steering of customers and to increase iPhone users' capability move easily between different payments in the app. The piece explains that, according to Epic document, Apple is still blocking users from steering them towards other payment methods with less expensive alternatives.
The AP report continues to say that, during the hearing, Apple executive over the iPhone App Store, Matthew Fischer revealed that Apple had only accepted and approved applications for 38 applications that display links to other payment systems, "a fraction of the around two million iPhone apps that are available within the U.S."
PC Mag points out that the low number of applications -- 38 out of the 65,000 app developers which offer in-app purchaseit is most likely due to costs because the 27 percentage Apple charge plus the expense of credit card fees could result in more expensive overall price for app developers.
Apple Executive 'Unaware' of the higher overall cost issue
An LAW360 story on May 10, 2015, recounts that day's proceedings as Epic attorney Yonatan Even as well as judge Gonzalez Rogers questioned Apple Finance Vice President Alex Roman. Even emphasized the 3% lower fee that is offered by Apple that is 27 percent on transactions made outside an app on Apple devices as compared to its usual in-app 30percent fee and Epic also provided evidence that the typical cost of processing payments in the U.S. is 3.5%, with a yoga app CEO who testified that he pays 3.5% to 6.5% fees for payment processing. Then, after Roman claimed that he wasn't aware of the fact, Even reiterated that the purpose was to establish an amount that allowed developers to offer users a lower price. They asked Roman if he understood this. The judge Gonzalez Rogers is quoted as stating to Roman that "'It seems like you had a tendency to make decisions with little or no information that you could have used,' she added. "It seems to me as if you were trying to maintain ... the income that you have had previously.'" Access the LAW360 article here.
We are pleased to see Judge Side With Epic
Chief Executive Officer David Nachman states that "We're delighted to have the judge siding in favor of Epic in this case We're optimistic that the court will order Apple to allow steering for game and application developers, without charges and limits. Its aim is to make it easier for global commerce for software and digital product firms, and we're with our customers to celebrate this progress toward free commerce on mobile devices."
Additional Antitrust Affidavit against Apple Launched by US Justice Department
As well as being involved in the Epic Games case, the U.S. Justice Department launched an antitrust suit against Apple in March 2024, alleging that Apple holds monopoly control over the mobile market, and this includes (among other things) with regard to electronic payments.